Kerala to inform SC committee the civil work

The Expert team of Kerala
government that inspected the civil work being carried out
by Tamil Nadu on the disputed Mullaperiyar dam has opined that
the maintenance work was to `mislead` the Supreme Court.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Expert team of Kerala
government that inspected the civil work being carried out
by Tamil Nadu on the disputed Mullaperiyar dam has opined that
the maintenance work was to `mislead` the Supreme Court
appointed empowered committee on Mulapperiyar dam, which was
slated to visit the dam next month.

The report of the team submitted today to State Water
Resources Minister N K Preamchandran said that Supreme court
committee members would have got a clear picture of the dam,
if Tamil Nadu had avoided the work.

Preamchandran said the state government would take up the
issue with the Supreme Court Empowered committee.

The report further said maintenance work carried out was
unscientific. Tamil Nadu had plugged the seepage points in
the downstream of the dam which was technically not feasible,
sources said.

Tamil Nadu had carried out the work after 15 years with an
intention to mislead the Supreme Court committee and it was an
eyewash, the report said.

The report wanted the state government to carry out
an underwater scanning to ascertain the seepages in the dam.
It also asked the government to speed up the process of
constructing new dam in place of the existing 116-year old
reservoir, sources said.

The Kerala government had last week set up the expert team
headed by M K Parameswaran Nair, Chairaman of Mullaperiyar
Cell to look into reports that Tamil Nadu was carrying out
civil work at the dam ahead of the committee headed by former
Chief Justice of India Justice A S Anand`s visit on December
21,22 and 23.

The Mullaperiyar dam on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border has
been a bone of contention between the states for a long time.
Kerala holds that the dam, built during British rule, is in
a precarious condition and if it breaks, millions of people in
downstream areas would be in danger.

The state conducted a survey for construction of a new dam,
which was opposed by Tamil Nadu, which benefits mostly from
the waters from the reservoir.

The issue has also been pending for long in the apex court,
which about a year back set up a high-powered panel headed by
former Chief Justice of India, Justice A S Anand to study the
matter and seek to eveolve an amicable settlement.